Nesting garment hanger



April 10, 1956 D. B. BROKENSHIRE 2,741,493

NESTING GARMENT HANGER Filed Dec. 30, 1952 33 15.3 2 30 L 2 3 1) @5153 34' 1 1 X &5

mo 2 2 38 A Zhwentor DOUL5 BRUHEMHHRE United NESTING GARMENT HANGER Douglas B. Brokenshire, Falls Church, Va. Application December 3! 1952, Serial No. 328,739 6 Claims. (Cl. 223-88) This invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly to garment hangers having comparatively broad shoulder-supporting surfaces.

Garment hangers have been made of many materials and in many shapes and perhaps the most inexpensive and popular types are those twisted from a single strand of wire in one plane to form a hook and shank, a pair of arms and a cross bar. Such hangers present little shipping or storage problem. However, the more costly garment hangers are usually formed of wood blocks or padded fabric to provide broad shoulder-supporting surfaces and usually have a cross bar also with a broad garment supporting surface. Such hangers offer broad sup port to the shoulders of a garment in a manner similar to that when worn by an individual and do not form a crease in garments draped over the cross bar. Usually these hangers are made of several pieces joined together and are not only expensive to manufacture, but once made are expensive to ship and bulky to store.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a garment hanger with, the desirable feature of broad shoulder-supporting surfaces and an integral hook portion substantially equally broad but which can be made of inexpensive thin sheet material, such as plastic, preferably of one piece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of spaced apart horizontal cross bars capable of supporting two draped garments but preferably for supporting a single draped garment thus forming lesser angles of fold in the garment and tending to avoid sharp creases therein, and tending to prevent the garment from slipping Off the hanger.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger with broad shoulder-supporting surfaces and a hook for suspending the same, both the shoulder and hook portions being hollow and arranged to nest compactly inside a similar hollow hanger.

A further object of the invention is to provide hookshaped slots in the broad shoulder-supporting surfaces and/ or spaced oppositely disposed indentations or note es in the horizontal cross bars thereof whereby clips may be inserted to support garments carried by said clips.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hollow garment hanger made of resilient material and including clips for supporting garments wherein the squeezing of portions of the hanger automatically opens the clips to release the garment.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive garment hanger of sheet material, having broad shoulder supporting surfaces and capable not only of nesting within a similar hanger, but capable of simultaneously supporting a coat type garment, a draped trouser type garment, a garment supported in clips and a garment having shoulder straps.

In describing the shape of the garment hanger of this invention, the terms campanulate or hell shaped, and dome and cupola are used to describe the outline of the fiat sides thereof thereby intending to include any and all rates Patent garment hangers having a wide shoulder portion and a narrower hook portion thereabove, both portions being hollow and both portions being concave toward the bottom opening to permit nesting therewithin of a similar hanger.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, in section, on line 11 of Fig. 2v showing the preferred form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, with parts broken away and in section, of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view in section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a similar view in section on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation partly in section, at a reduced scale, showing the manner of nesting the garment hangers of this invention.

Fig. 6 is a side view of the invention showing the various ways of suspending and supporting garments from the hangers of this invention.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view on line 77 of Fig. 6 showing one type of garment clip operatively positioned in a slot of the shoulder supporting portion of the hangers.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view on line 88 of Fig. 6 showing the clip of Fig. 7 operatively positioned in the notches of the cross bars of the hanger.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, of a modified form of clip usable with a hanger of resilient material, and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary side elevation of the modified form of clip shown in Fig. 9.

In the drawing, A represents the preferred form'of the garment hanger of this invention, the hanger A having a body 29 made up of a shoulder-supporting portion 21 of domed configuration and a hook, or hanger-supporting portion 22 of cupola configuration. The body 20 includes a pair of spaced apart, oppositely-disposed flat side walls 24 and 25', the outline thereof in elevation being generally campanulate or bell shaped. The body it however, is not hemispherical in plan as in a hell, but is narrow and elongated. in plan due to the fiat surface of side walls 24- and 25. Thus the body portion 21 takes the form of a narrow elongated hollow dome and the body portion 22 takes the form of a narrow elongated hollow cupola, or lantern, on the dome 21. Body portion 20 also includes an integral connecting web 26, extending across and joining the adjacent peripheral edges of walls 24 and 25 and. forming a roof to the hollow space within the dome and cupoia shape of the hanger. Web 25 forms what arecalled. end walls 27, 2t; and top walls 2% to the body 21 and conforms to the campanulate shape thereof. There is no connecting web across the lower edges of the base of the hanger thus leaving therebetween what is called herein a nesting opening 33 defined by the straight parallel lower edges 31 and 32 or" walls 24 and 25 and the opposite lower edges 33 and 34 of web 26.

Another opening, called a suspension opening 40, is

- provided in the body 2%: by cutting away the top wall 29 formed by connecting web 25 and cutting into the central and lower sections of the fiat side walls 2-:- and 25 of the hanger supporting portion 22 of body 2% A hook H is thus formed by the opening dis by which the hanger A may be supported on a rod or the like.

The opposite sides 37 and 38 of shoulder supporting portion 22 of body 20 are each called a shoulder supporting arm and they are separated intermediate thereof by a hook opening 39, through which the hook and shank of a similar hanger may pass upon nesting. Thus substantially an entire similar garment hanger may be nested within the hollow cavity formed within the body 20, the hook portion being nested within the hanger supporting portion 22 and the arms being nested within the shoulder supporting portion 21. Other similar hangers may also be so nested together thereby saving considerably in storage space.

Another opening, called a garment opening 50 is preferably provided in the body and includes an opening 51 through the side walls 24 and an identical opening 52 through the side wall 25 of the Shoulder supporting portion 22 of the body. The upper edge such as 530 of an opening such as 51 is preferably curved to conform to the domed configuration of portion 22. The lower edges such as 54 of the openings 51 and 52 are horizontal and straight but preferably include a plurality of oppositely disposed notches 53 as best shown in Fig. 1. Opening 59 thus creates a pair of spaced apart, substantially parallel, horizontal cross bars 56 and 55 across which a garment may be draped or over each of which a single garment may be draped and since the cross bars 55 and 56 are comparatively widely spaced from each other, the garment is not sharply creased when folded thereover. The notches 53 are spaced along each cross bar such as 56 and 55 at oppositely disposed points which provide a variety of locations for spring clips, to be described hereinafter, but not so closely that a sawtooth effect is produced.

A plurality of oppositely disposed hook shaped slots 6% are preferably provided in each shoulder supporting arm 37 and 38 also to support the above mentioned spring clips or to support the straps of a slip or similar garment. Each slot 60 extends longitudinally of an arm such as 37, in the connecting web 26, and is long enough to permit insertion lengthwise of a spring clip and of a width suflicient to support the clip when turned through 90. Each slot 60 is of hooked configuration, in elevation, to retain the straps of a garment from sliding down the shoulder supporting The body 20 of hanger A is formed of thin sheet ma terial such as plastic and in view of its inverted U cross section is self supporting and strong even when of nearly paper thin material. Preferably the side walls 24 and 25 diverge away from each other, from top to bottom, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 to permit the nesting of one hanger compactly within the other. The outline of the peripheral edges of the side walls 24 and 25, or the body 26, is preferably campanulate to flare downwardly and outwardly al- 1 damage to hanger A. Preferably spring clips such as 89,

shown in Figs. 7 and 8, are provided which are shaped to cooperate with the hanger in suspending and releasing a garment. Each clip 89 includes a T shaped head 81, a narrow neck 82, a branch or jaw support 83 ending in a jaw 84 and a branch or jaw support 85 ending in a similar jaw 86. Preferably the clip 8% is formed of one piece of resilient wire with branch 85 looped around branch 83 and includes bulges as and 37 in contact with the inner surfaces of an ann 37 or a pairof cross bars 56 and 55. The jaws 84 and 36 of a clip such as 36 may be closed on a garment such as a shirt and the head 81 then twisted to 90 passed upwardly through a slot 63 and allowed to twist back to its normal position where it will be supported transversely of the slot. Similarly a clip 83- may be passed upwardly between cross bars 56 and 55 or dropped downwardly therebetween so that head 81 will;

65 notches such as 53 in cross bars 56 and 55. By squeezing be supported between a pair of oppositely disposed the resilient plastic of the walls'24 and 25 together, either on the arm 37 or on the cross bars 56 and 55 the bulges 86 and 87 of clip 8-8 will cause the jaws to open to release or receive a garment.

As shown in Fig. 9 a modified form of clip 90 may b used having a pair of elongated jaws 91 and 92 for receiving a garment, Clip 9% is preferably made of resilient plastic material and includes a pair of elongated members 93 v and 94, each including a jaw and each bent at 95, 96 and" 97 to rest in an indentation such as 153 and to enter a slot such as 93 in a cross bar such as 55. A spring 99 of any suitable type may be provided to act as the pivot point for the members 93 and 94 and to provide spring action when cross bars 55 and 56 are not inherently resilient. Squeezing the cross bars 55 and 56 together automatically opens jaws 91 and 92 and the release of pressure permits the jaws to close upon a garment. The re- Si) packed separately.

silient material of clip permits it to be spread apart to spring into position around the bars 55 and 56 and the slots such as 98 prevent the clip from rising or sliding from the position desired.

Clip 8% shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is the preferred type for use with the invention in that it may be used in either slots 6% or notches 53. The hangers A are shipped and stored in nested position as shown in Fig. 5 with the clips As indicated in Fig. 6, in dotted lines, a coat may be carried on the shoulder-supporting portion of body 20 of hanger A, a trouser type gar ment 121 may be draped over cross bars 56 and 55 and a slip 122 may be suspended by its shoulder straps from slots such as 68 all at the same time. In addition, by the use of clips such as 8t an additional garment may be suspended from the cross bars 56 and 55 in notches 53 and if desired still another garment could be suspended by clips 36 from the slots 60 of shoulder supporting arms such as 37 and 38.

I claim:

l. A nestable garment hanger comprising a narrow, elongated, hollow, unitary, body of thin, selfsupporting, sheet material, said body including a pair of spaced apart, longitudinally extending, fiat side walls each having downwardly curved upper side and end edges, the said side walls having an upwardly projecting portion between said UPPer side edges and a narrow, curved, laterally extending web of said material joining the adjacent peripheral upper side and end edges of said side walls, the said web also joining one of the adjacent upper side and end edges of said upwardly projecting portion and the walls of said upwardly projecting portion having a cut-out section extending inwardly and upwardly therein to form a garment hanger hook in said portion.

2. A nestable garment hanger as specified in claim 1 wherein said side walls diverge outwardly and downwardly away from each other and each said side wall includes an opening therethrough forming therebelow one of a pair of horizontal cross bars for supporting a garment draped thereover.

3. A combination as specifiedin claim 2 plus a plurality of spring clips each detachably mounted across said cross bars and having a pair of jaw supports each engageable by the inner face of one of said cross bars, each said clip being arranged to open against its spring pressure when the cross bars are pressed towards each other.

4. A nestable garment hanger comprising a narrow, elongated, hollow, unitary body of thin, self supporting, sheet material, said body'including a pair of spaced apart,

longitudinally extending, flat side walls, each having downwardly curved upper side and end edges joined by a narrow, arched, laterally extending web of said material, the

said side walls having an upwardly projecting, centrally disposed, portion between the upper side and end edges thereof and the upwardly projecting portions of said side adapted to selectively support identical garment clips in depending position therebelow.

6. A combination as specified in claim 5 plus a plurallity of spring clips each mounted in one of said slots or notches and each having a pair of jaws for gripping a garment, and a pair of jaw supports depending between the side walls of said body, said jaw supports being engageable by the inner faces of said side Walls and each said clip being arranged to open against its spring pres- References Cited in the file of this patent sure when the adjacent opposite portions of said side walls 10 2,619,269

are pressed together.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Bartholdi Oct. 7, 1924 Cave Mar. 20, 1928 Littledale June 12, 1934 Ringler May 16, 1944 Rosenberg Aug. 19, 1947 Dobana Apr. 17, 1951 Crossland Nov. 25, 1952 

